Student news: Summer break

Many people believe that summer break was instituted because of a farm-centric schedule requiring children to be at home during the summer months. However, this is not true, traditional farming schedules would require children to be at home during the fall, due to the harvest, not the summer. With that said, the reason for summer break is no less archaic; the general consensus is that it was established due to the summer heat present in many areas before the implementation of air conditioning. This was combined with many wealthier families taking extended vacations during the summer months. As a result, many educators structured the school calendar with a break during the heart of the summer season. 

Clearly, the issue of heat is hardly of concern in modern times; ventilation and cooling technology have become cheaper and widely accessible. However, summer remains a largely unquestioned part of American society. This is largely due to the belief that students need time off to recuperate and enrich themselves by engaging in extracurricular pursuits. However, evidence suggests that not all students benefit equally from the time off and that many lose knowledge and academic ability due to the break. 

A common argument in favor of a traditional summer break is that students gain the chance to explore extracurricular opportunities such as service and exchange trips. However, this benefit is almost entirely reserved for students from wealthy families; poorer students often do not have opportunities for enrichment or exploration. 

In addition, many students suffer from what is commonly known as “summer learning loss,” which refers to losing academic ability over the course of the break. A study conducted between 2008 and 2012 found that students between grades 2 and 9 lost between 25 percent and 30 percent of their school year learning over the summer. The loss was even greater for children from historically disadvantaged groups. This loss is equivalent to an entire month worth of learning during the school year, an amount that can have considerable impacts on a student’s education. Anecdotally, the first few months of school are spent reviewing material from previous years instead of learning the new curriculum. 

While it is undeniable that students need a break from school to recharge, explore life and become more independent, there is no need for the break to occur over one extended chunk of time. Having several one-month breaks between seasons and around holidays would preserve the current amount of instructional days, allow for students to reap the benefits of vacation and avoid summer learning loss. 

While the thought of “abolishing” summer does not sound pleasant to students, the implementation of a year-round schedule would not lead to a decrease in vacation time and would increase the quality of the time we spend in school by focusing the time on learning new material, instead of review.  

Charlie Chapman is an incoming senior at Burlingame High School. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.